As the snow began to recede, caravans of small merchants started to make their way to Pont Vanis eager for fresh business and supplies after the winter months. Reports of a creature preying on villagers also made their way to the port city and peaked the curiosity of the two resident witchers. With itchy sword hands, they made their way out to northern Velhad across the Tango river. The Aldermen of several villages had pooled resources to send for a huntsman, so the arrival of not one but two witchers was very fortuitous indeed. Once there, they talked with the people and examined the woods where they found the telltale totem of a leshen. Geralt and Eskel were spurred on by the chase they hadn't realized they missed. A leshen was serious business but it was nothing a single witcher couldn't handle, let alone two. They brought their trophy, collected their pay and left on the long road home. The witchers rode side by side, tired and dirty, yet enjoying the familiarity of it all. They were also glad that a warm bath and bed awaited them upon their return instead of a drafty fortress.
On the way home they ventured near the walls of Lan Exeter as a great host was leaving the gate. They rode ahead to pass by the lumbering hulk of the group only to be hailed by one of its numbers. They fell in beside Charles at the head of the column with the King.
"What brings the Witchers out before the snow has melted?" The king asked in a jovial yet royal manner.
"We were following reports of something terrorizing villagers in Velhad."
"I can assume then that the reports will stop now."
"You assume right, Sire." Geralt responded.
"May I ask what it was?"
"Leshen."
"This far north? Odd." Charles commented.
"But not unheard of." Geralt took in the royal figure on his horse. "What brings you out so openly?" Tancred grinned widely and laughed heartily.
"Well, since a castle's staff cannot keep a secret, I decided to ride out and greet my people. I have done my duty to the crown and the Thyssen line with the birth of my son over the winter." He smiled cheerfully with a bright sparkle to his eye.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you. And what of you, Eskel? Are you ready to begin fulfilling your duties as the Master Hunter of Pont Vanis?"
"Of course. And more."
"More, Witcher?" Tancred gave him a sly look.
"I would like to marry Brinna, but most temples wouldn't want to get involved with a witcher, being a mutant and sterile." Tancred leaned toward Eskel.
"Have no fear my friend. I can help you," he said with a wink. Straightening in his saddle he resumed in his royal tone, "Master Witcher, it would give me great pleasure to marry you to your little witch. After all, it has been, what, almost two years since I performed a wedding?" The King looked at Geralt. Geralt smiled slightly and nodded. Eskel didn't realize the King could do that much less that he had married Geralt and Triss. "I rather enjoy weddings. I'll speak with my chamberlain when I return. We'll talk again."
They rode with the King's escort until they reached a sizable village. Geralt and Eskel peeled away from Charles' side and made to go around the outside.
"Leaving so soon?" Charles asked with a grin.
"Afraid so. People see a witcher at a King's side, they tend to get the wrong impression of what we are." Geralt said.
"And what we do." Eskel added. The King nodded his ascent and waved them off.
Eskel and Brinna were married by King Tancred Thyssen a few weeks later, on the steps of the castle with a few friends and many curious onlookers. Eskel wore his regular witcher gear complete with two swords (he wasn't some dandy) cleaned and polished to an immaculate shine (he also wasn't a slob). Brinna wore a simple yet elegant dress in a dark green with long tear drop sleeves and a rounded revealing neck. Eskel had been near breathless as she slipped her trembling hand into his when the King bound them together as man and wife.
When word had circulated that a second witcher was marrying, the whole of Pont Vanis it seemed turned out to see this newest attraction as well as to drain the taverns of their ale supply. Everyone seemed to be celebrating. Of course, when drink flowed, it didn't take much to convince every man woman and child to celebrate. Eskel wanted to slip away quietly and enjoy his new bride as soon as possible but Triss assured him that Koviri custom required the couple to appear at the celebration and he wouldn't want to upset custom, would he? So, there he stood in the darkened corner of the largest tavern in town filled to the brim with revelers not entirely sure what or whom they were celebrating, watching Brinna across the room as she talked and laughed with Triss and a few others he recognized but did not know. Geralt joined him, handing him a fresh drink.
"Holding up the wall?"
"I guess so," Eskel chuckled. "I'm not real big on lots of people, Geralt."
"Neither am I. Occupational hazard, I guess." Geralt said. "So, how's it feel?" he asked motioning to Eskel's hand. Eskel turned the etched gold ring around on his finger.
"I guess it hasn't quite sunk in yet. I'm still trying to adjust to all this. You know, I still wake up most mornings thinking that I need to pack up and go."
"I still do that from time to time." Geralt confessed with a shrug. "It'll just take some time. That's all. I do plan on making a trip out this summer, if you want to go along."
"Part time witchering? Yeah, I guess I could do that." Someone new entered the tavern and Eskel took note of the dark sky. "We need to get going." Eskel said as he straightened up from the wall and set down the mug. Geralt laughed.
"That eager, huh?"
"It's been over two years, so, yes."
"Ouch."
"Besides, you know what happens at my house come midnight." Eskel walked to the door.
"Forgetting someone?"
"No. She'll know I'm not here the minute I leave." Eskel said.
"How?"
"She'll just know." Eskel walked out the door to ready the horses. Geralt watched Brinna smile and laugh. Suddenly she turned her head in his direction as her smile dimmed, realizing Eskel wasn't there. Geralt nodded toward the door. She said something to Triss and slipped away. Geralt shook his head in amazement. How did she know?
Brinna opened the door enough to slip out and found Eskel leaning against the rail waiting for her. He held his hand out to her and she slid hers against his calloused skin. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her gently then led her to the horses.
They silently followed the road out of the city, passed Geralt and Triss' cottage. He pulled them to a stop just around the bend in the road. He pulled out a strip of cloth and leaned over to her, binding her eyes.
"What are you doing?" She asked, laughing.
"Surprising you." He took her horse by the bridle and continued down the road. As they reached the house, he turned the horses to face the front. Leaning back to her he untied the cloth and let it fall away from her eyes. Brinna gasped. The lanterns by the door had been lit and there was a warm glow from inside.
"Eskel…"
"My wedding gift to you." He whispered, his lips brushing her ear. "I love you Brinna." He took them through the open gate before dismounting. After putting the horses in the stable, he led her back to the front door, motioning for her to open it. She pushed it open slowly but before she could take a step inside Eskel swept her up and carried her in. She wanted to look around but Eskel held her tight and chuckled.
"Oh, no. There is only one room I'm going to show you tonight." He carried her upstairs to the third door and pushed it open with his foot, then set her on her feet. The fire was laid low in the hearth but the light was bright enough to see the room in detail. A simple dresser on her left and a wardrobe on the other side of the fireplace. The center of the room was dominated by the most beautiful bed Brinna had ever seen. It was a four post bed, each post carved into a spiral of leafy vines. Brinna followed the vines back to their point of origin on the foot board. A tree was the dominant carving with the vines weaving around it before they began their assent. She reached out and touched the wood, running her hand over the smooth face of the leaves.
"Do you like it?" Eskel asked softly.
"Did you make this?" She asked. He nodded. "I've never seen anything like it. Eskel, it's beautiful."
"Not as beautiful as you," Eskel stroked her cheek and drew her closer to him. He loved this woman so much and tonight he would show her just how much that was.
He pulled the buckle of his sword belt and let his swords fall to the floor. Brinna slid her hands under his jacket, moving up his chest and shoulders pushing it off as she went. She wasn't shy and he liked it. He pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it to join his jacket and swords on the floor. Brinna touched his skin carefully, feeling the heat from him. She leaned forward and kissed his chest just over his heart. Eskel thought his legs would fail him feeling her moist lips on him. He bent and took her mouth with his, capturing her fully, completely.
He grabbed her skirts and pulled them up as he kissed her and broke the kiss only to pull the dress over her head. Gazing down at her, he grew harder at the sight of her creamy skin clad in very pretty and very lacey undergarments. She reached up and pulled the pins from her hair, letting it fall around her then proceeded to disrobe completely as he watched. She was perfect. His eyes drifted down over her large, full breasts past her small waist to her… Eskel's mouth went dry. He was unsure how long he was going to last despite the legendary witcher stamina.
Brinna ran a finger under the waist of his pants, shaking him from his daze. She stood bare before him. Time for him to do the same. He pulled off his boots and socks then untied the laces for his pants before shoving them down and stepping out of them. Brinna's eyes roved over his body, taking in the scars, dips and hard lines that made him. She traced the talon marks from his side down over his hip toward his groin. Eskel groaned.
"Brin…" Eskel pulled her to him and kissed her hard, pressing his hips into her, grinding his erection against her skin. He pulled away, picked her up and carried her to their bed. He laid her down then joined her, stretching out next to her. He caressed every inch of her tantalizing body, teasing, tickling, kissing. She moaned as he slid his hand between her legs. She was ready for him and Eskel couldn't wait any longer. He shifted over her and put his knee inside her thigh and pushed her legs apart. Brinna welcomed him eagerly, running her cool hands over his body as he settled over her. He pressed into her gently until he felt her stiffen.
"Quickly," she whispered, then cupped his face and kissed him. He thrust quickly, wrapping himself fully in her warmth. She gasped with momentary pain then began exploring the hard planes of his body, urging him to continue. Eskel moved slowly at first, gradually increasing his pace as Brinna began to moan beneath him. She pulled his face to hers, kissing his mouth, his neck, nibbling at his ear. She whispered his name over and over, Eskel, just as he had always wanted her to.
"Eskel!" Brinna cried, arching beneath him. Eskel groaned as her nails bit into his back and her body began to spasm around him. As pleasure racked her, Brinna heard a concert of a thousand strings of music accompanied by a thousand voices. She knew and now she understood. Eskel's love, emotional and physical, had shook loose the last barrier between her magic and herself.
Eskel trembled as Brinna called out and her body gripped his. He quickened his pace and fell over the edge. He moaned loudly as the exquisite pleasure washed over him and he curled over her, shuddering and groaning.
When the intensity subsided, Eskel rolled them to the side, pulling her leg over his hip, his strong arm around her holding her next to him. They lay together in silence for a while, their bodies entwined and still intimately connected.
"Eskel," Brinna breathed softly.
"Hmmm?" He said, not opening his eyes. She touched his cheek, tracing the scars.
"Nothing. I just like to say your name." He opened his eyes and looked at her with a wicked gleam.
"Yeah?" He rolled her back, kissing her. "Let's see how many more times I can make you say it then."
Eskel roused slowly from a deep sleep, not opening his eyes. Why was he awake? A sound. Singing? He opened his eyes to the dark room. Only faint moonlight trickled in the window and fell across the bed. It would be dawn soon. Sitting up he looked beside him and smiled. Brinna lay on her stomach, the sheet down around her waist exposing her soft skin, her hair piled behind her head in a curly heap. Eskel relived the night as he stared down at his bride. The repeated sensations of building desire followed by spent ecstasy. He had never felt so completely fulfilled with a woman as he did with Brinna.
The singing intruded on his thoughts and he grabbed a pair of linen pants from a chair and went downstairs. The fire in the kitchen hearth was full but somehow seemed hollow.
"There you are, witcher." A ghost appeared and moved silently to stir something over the fire in a ghostly pot.
"Emmeline…" Eskel said.
"I've been watching you for some time. This house held so much pain yet you've managed to dispel it. I have spent a long time guarding this place for one such as you." The ghost faced him.
"Why?"
"This house was everything I ever wanted and desired. Despite my cruel father I meant to make the best of things until Doran proved to be just as bad. All my hopes and dreams crushed beneath them both. I bound myself here to prevent another Doran from taking up residence and in the process, I allowed my anger and disappointment fester. You were not the only one to see. You were just the only one to understand what really happened here." She paused before continuing. "The child was his, you know."
"What about Garret? He seemed to think he was the father."
"Garret and I were lovers for a short time before I realized it would come to no good end. Garret's child would receive no warm welcome from Doran and I ended it. For Garret's sake. And for mine. It wasn't right no matter what had been done to me. What conclusions Garret came to I can't say."
"Wasn't he with you when you died?"
"Yes. He and Miles. Garret was begging to take me away from here but I said no. Apparently, we were both too late." Emmeline sighed and took a few steps toward the door. "I wonder what happened to him…"
"He married your sister Margret. They live in Povis."
"Then I know she did not suffer the same fate as I."
"So, the curse is broken?"
"It was the moment you brought her through the door." The ghost looked up the stairs. "You brought love back here. That is all I ever wanted. Thank you, witcher, for being a good, kind man." Emmeline faded away and the ghostly fire died leaving the room in darkness.
"Eskel?" He turned and saw Brinna leaning over the rail wrapped in the bed sheet, one leg exposed to the thigh.
"I'm coming, love." He took one last look around as he felt a ghostly sigh breathe through the house. Emmeline was gone.
Brinna woke to bright sunlight streaming in the window. She stretched, feeling the slight soreness of her body and smiled remembering how attentive and gentle Eskel had been; giving as well as taking. How at the perfect moment the music began and a whole new world was now open to her. A world he had given her.
She pushed herself up and gazed at her new husband as he slept beside her. He lay on top of the sheets, one arm thrown over his eyes to block the light. Brinna let her eyes roam freely over his form, taking in little details she had missed the night before. He was all lean muscle on a large frame, each scar on his body was like a badge of his work. She couldn't see his face but even the scars he wore there, he wore well. He didn't like them and was self-conscience of them but they somehow seemed to fit on him, add to him. It was something Brinna had felt the moment she first lay eyes on him.
His jaw was relaxed as he continued to breathe deeply and needed a shave, the dark shadow much more prominent this morning. She let her gaze travel down to the center of his chest where a strange circular discoloration stood. It was faint, something she had never noticed before even though she had seen him without a shirt many times. It was a perfect circle with small droplet shapes spiraling out around it. There were some small gouges and cuts over his lower chest and abdomen before the trail of dark hair began just below his navel. There were the large talon marks on his left side, of course, and high on his right thigh were a set of claw marks from…fingernails? She leaned in to examine them closer.
"Like what you see?" Brinna jumped back and blushed as Eskel chuckled, a deep, warm sound resonating in his chest.
"I was just wondering where you got some of the marks from."
"I'm a witcher, remember?"
"What I mean is, your body tells a story."
"A gruesome story." Brinna pursed her lips at him. "Okay, fine. What do you want to know about?" She shifted closer to him and ran her hand over the discoloration on his chest.
"What's this one? I've never noticed it before and it is only visible from a certain angle." Eskel tucked his chin to look down and ran his hand over the mark.
"This is a souvenir from the Wild Hunt. When they came for Ciri at Kaer Morhen, I found myself faced with Caranthir, their navigator. He hit me with is staff, here, and I thought the pain alone was going to kill me. In a flash I saw the red riders and the destruction they left behind, the pain they caused. I felt like I was suffocating. I would be dead if it wasn't for Ciri."
"I'll be sure to thank her should I meet her," Brinna said as her hand and eyes continued downward past the talon marks to a puncture wound on his left cheek. "This?"
"Wyvern caught me with a tail spike. A manticore got the other side." Brinna scanned to the other side, running her fingers over his hip to the nail marks as she watched his body react to her touch.
"What about those?"
"I don't know if you want to hear about that."
"Another woman?"
"Embarrassing."
"Eskel, you're three quarters of a century older than I am. It would be extremely naive of me to think you'd not been with any other women."
"Gee, thanks for reminding me how old I am. Fine. I'll tell you. I was bathing in a river before going into town to…"
"To?"
"Never mind. This beautiful woman came out of the woods and joined me. I was as randy as green boy and didn't notice my medallion vibrating until she was right up on me. I made it out onto the bank before the bruxa revealed herself but she still managed to get her claws into me before I could get my sword. See, I told you. Embarrassing."
"A witcher caught with his pants down!" Brinna laughed. "Does Geralt know this story?"
"He knows I tussled with a bruxa that trip, not that I did it completely naked and I'd like it to stay that way." Eskel rolled over to all fours.
"No fear, my love, I'll keep your secrets. That is now the second thing I know of that you do well while naked."
"I could show you a few more," Eskel growled as he yanked the sheet from her grasp and pulled her beneath him. He proceeded to kiss and tease her until both of their laughter morphed into moans of passion as he showed her just what else he did well while naked.